How to Choose the Right Fall Fashion Trends for You

Right now you’re getting hit with a ton of fall fashion trends to consider.  As exciting as this time of year is, fashion can also be terribly overwhelming, like being a kid in a candy store.  To compound matters, fall fashion trends don’t trickle in slowly, they charge in fast and furiously.  I can’t help but remember that classic Daffy Duck scene as he greedily exclaimed, “It’s mine, mine, you understand?!” while pushing Bugs Bunny out of the way.  It can get so terribly easy to get this way over all the new fall fashion arrivals.  We just want to devour them and often lose all sense of control and reason.  So much looks appealing and desirable.  However, just because we may want it, do we really need it?  And how exactly do we decipher those needs from all those wants when we have so much to choose from?

Before you get too ahead of yourself, I want you to take a quick breather and get your bearings as I give you some tips on how to choose the right fall fashion trends for you.  Here are my suggestions.

How to Choose the Right Fall Fashion Trends for You

I came up with this blog post idea while walking down the street this weekend.  I looked at my terribly comfortable shoes and thought about the amount of time I spent living certain parts of my life.  While I would love to have a need for endless pairs of stilettos and, more importantly, a place to wear them, I could also identify that I really don’t.  Before you go hog wild on a trend, I want you to sit down and think about the reality of your life.  One exercise you can do is create a pie chart and figure out how you spend most of your time along with the percentage of time you spend doing it.

Here is an example using my own life:

Given my lifestyle, with such a small sliver of my time being spent attending formal affairs, like weddings or cocktail events, I can identify that my need for a ton of fancy shoes or formal pieces is limited.  Looking at my pie chart further, when I am not working with clients or speaking or with corporate clients, I work from home as a writer and when I do, I like to be comfortable.  Plus, in addition, even when I am with clients or working with a corporate client I am on my feet.  Have you ever tried to clean a closet or shop with a client for three hours in stilettos?  It’s impossible.  Unless I am speaking publicly and the venue demands a more dressed appearance, my attire is a polished yet casual look.  The bottom line is my life is incredibly casual, even when I am working.

The lifestyle pie chart is a handy tool that can also be very sobering and mildly depressing if you look at it in the wrong manner.  Fashion is often about fantasy, escapism and checking out of reality so who really wants to deal in reality when it comes to the clothes we want to buy and wishfully wear?  However, my advice is not meant to be restrictive because I really do believe fashion is more enjoyable when you get your money’s worth.  Just because you buy based on need does not mean it has to be a downer.  You can have both, enjoyment and usefulness.

My next tip is a very easy one that my clients have been using for years.  It’s simply to ask yourself “Where am I going in this?” before you purchase it.  Eleven years ago, when I first started my consulting business, a client called me out for constantly asking her “Where are you going in that?” when I suggested she rid herself of a particular wardrobe item.  Honestly, until this client said something I had no idea I was saying it.  Flash forward eleven years later and this accidental term has become the mantra that has saved many of my clients from needless buys and wasted money.

The next time you are in a store and want to buy something I want you to simply ask yourself, “Where am I going in this?” before you purchase it.  If you can’t figure out where you will wear something then it doesn’t belong in your closet and will most likely just sit there until you toss it out with the tags still on it.  And don’t do another thing that I call my clients out for doing all the time called “Wishful Wardrobing”.  Wishful Wardrobing is the act of making up places where you claim you will go even though you know you never will.  These little white lies can get expensive if you’re not careful.

Trends are fun and meant to be enjoyable.  Yet, they can also get costly and overwhelming if you go whole hog without any thought as to how much you really need them.  Save your budget, save your sanity and take time to choose the right fall fashion trends for you.

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